Gold and silver climbed along with the stock market on the first trading day of the New Year after lawmakers hammered out a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff, prompting investors to embrace more risk. Precious metals' strength coincided with the U.S. dollar and commodity currencies, such as the Canadian and Australian dollars. Front-month gold futures prices rose 0.74% to $1,688.60 an ounce. SPDR Gold Shares (GLD), tracking a tenth of an ounce of